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Artist Ed Hardy’s bottled water is no longer on the market, but it’s an exception in the growing
designer-water industry.Since the dawn of mass-market bottled water — flourishing in the
post-Perrier ’80s and solidified by Pepsi and Coke in the ’90s — designer water has settled
comfortably into the higher end of the market. There, Perrier is more Forever 21 than Louis
Vuitton.

The water market even has its own competition: the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting
in West Virginia, which will conduct its 23rd annual contest this weekend. And the industry has
star power behind it, too.Lady Gaga’s Pop Water is expected this year. And UNICEF’s Tap Project
commissioned Selena Gomez, Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Robin Williams for its offshoot, Celebrity
Tap. For the campaign, tap water from celebrities’ homes was packaged in custom glass bottles, and,
with a $5 donation, participants were entered for a chance to win a case.

“Water is a commodity, even when it’s packaged dutifully,” said brand consultant Eli Portnoy. “
It’s all subjective.

“People . . . want to think it’s something healthier. Is that provable by the FDA? No. But they
can certainly market it as ‘It comes from this particular glacier, this particular source.’ ”

For example, the luxury brand 10 Thousand BC obtains its glacier water on a three-day trip off
the coast of Canada.

Gaining popularity is Hawaiian deep-sea water, which is flourishing in Asia and expanding into
the United States. Kona Deep Corp. goes to great lengths — using a pipeline that reaches more than
3,000 feet into the ocean — to obtain its water. The company just started shipping the water to
Whole Foods.

Peter Gleick, a water scientist and author of
Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession With Bottled Water, has visited the
Hawaiian plant that produces deep-sea water.

The process, he said, involves removing salt from the water — after which “The water is the same
as any other.”